Wise words from some of the greats

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”

―Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“Don't get it right―get it WRITTEN!”

―Lee Child

“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”

―Saul Bellow

“I was starting to wonder if I was ready to be a writer, not someone who won prizes, got published and was given the time and space to work, but someone who wrote as a course of life. Maybe writing wouldn't have any rewards. Maybe the salvation I would gain through work would only be emotional and intellectual. Wouldn't that be enough, to be a waitress who found an hour or two hidden in every day to write?”

―Ann Patchett

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.”

―Richard Bach

“Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending they're not absurd.”

―China Miéville

“I was a late bloomer. But anyone who blooms at all, ever, is very lucky. ”

―Sharon Olds

“You can fix anything but a blank page.”

―Nora Roberts

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

―Robert Frost

“Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.”

―Mark Twain

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”